In Sermon Illustrations: "Illustration"

Perhaps You Remember The Old Tv ...

Contributed by D. Greg Ebie on Jan 22, 2008

ILLUSTRATION: Perhaps you remember the old TV sit-com or have seen it on “TV-Land” staring Carroll O’Connor All in the Family. Archie Bunker often found himself at odds with his meathead son-in-law Mike. In one episode Archie and his wife Edith were having a discussion about God when Mike ...read more

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Hellen Keller ...

Contributed by Troy Borst on Feb 26, 2009

ILLUSTRATION… Hellen Keller (p) Whenever I read this passage, I cannot help but think of another movie! I think of the 1962 (and in 1979) movie about Hellen Keller called “The Miracle Worker.” Hellen Keller was deaf and blind and could not communicate. Her teacher, Anne Sullivan arrived at ...read more

Tags: Miracles Of Jesus

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

You Know Not ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 24, 2009

YOU KNOW NOT WHEN The people of Martinique sent representatives to that smoldering volcano, Mount Pelee, to see what the condition was. They returned and gave false reports and the city slept on, in all its vice. Nature took warning and the reptiles commenced crawling down the mountainside, birds ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 24:43-44

Tags: Second Coming

Scripture Says,

Contributed by Terry Laughlin on Apr 16, 2009

Scripture says, “…they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24) “One” (eḥāḏ) “stresses unity while recognizing diversity within that oneness.” “It has the idea of unity or integrity as when it designates one justice for all.” I especially appreciate an illustration from the book ...read more

Tags: Marriage Commitment

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

This Is Forgiveness

Contributed by Dr. Mark Eckart on Jul 6, 2009

THIS IS FORGIVENESS I once invited a guest lecturer to speak to a counseling class I was teaching and ask him to specifically discuss the topic forgiveness. He told a powerful story from his own life that day to illustrate his point that we should forgive. His brother had many struggles, and ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness For Others

Denomination: Holiness

Not Location But ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 24, 2009

NOT LOCATION BUT LOYALTY John Hess Yoder writes in Leadership magazine: While serving as a missionary in Laos, I discovered an illustration of the kingdom of God. Before the colonialists imposed national boundaries, the kings of Laos and Vietnam reached an agreement on taxation in the border ...read more

Scripture: Joshua 2:1-24

Tags: Kingdom Of God

Sin Separates Us From God And From Each Other. I ...

Contributed by Johnny Wilson on Aug 24, 2009

Sin separates us from God and from each other. I recently read about an interesting scientific phenomenon with fluorophores. Fluorophores are molecules that glow when they are excited by the right kind of light source. They’re usually found in amino acids and proteins. (There is an illustration at: ...read more

Tags: Sin, Sin Separates From God

Denomination: *other

As Someone (Dr. Waights G. Henry, Jr.) Put It: ...

Contributed by John Williams Iii on Aug 24, 2009

As someone (Dr. Waights G. Henry, Jr.) put it: “The past remains with us. For good or ill what we are is a result of what we have done.” To illustrate this point let us consider an example from the life of the Duke of Windsor. Someone asked him if they could show film taken from various segments ...read more

Scripture: Romans 2:15-26, Hebrews 4:12

Tags: Sin, Sin Exposed

Denomination: United Methodist

English Deist, Anthony Collins' Question To A ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Nov 30, 2009

English Deist, Anthony Collins’ Question to a Commoner, "Is your God a great or a little God?" A well-known English deist, Anthony Collins of the seventeenth century, was walking one day when he crossed paths with a commoner. “Where are you going?” asked Collins. “To church, sir.” “What are you ...read more

Scripture: Romans 12:1-2

Tags: Worship General

No One Would Take Him

Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Jan 4, 2010

NO ONE WOULD TAKE HIM In 1952 a probation officer in New York City tried to find an organization that would assist in the adoption of a twelve-year-old boy. Although the child had a religious background, none of the major denominations would assist in his adoption. Said the officer later, "His ...read more

Tags: Adoption

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Praying For Wind

Contributed by Donnie Martin on Jun 19, 2010

PRAYING FOR WIND When Hudson Taylor went to China, he made the voyage on a sailing vessel. As it neared the channel between the southern Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra, the missionary heard an urgent knock on his stateroom door. He opened it, and there stood the captain of the ship. ...read more

Tags: Faith

Denomination: Baptist

Not Raising Grass But Kids

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 6, 2010

NOT RAISING GRASS BUT KIDS Dr. Tony Evans talks about a major league baseball superstar's recollection of his boyhood home. He, his friends, and his father played baseball quite often in their backyard. As a result, the grass had really taken a beating. It didn't look good anymore, unless you were ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:1-4

Tags: Father's Day

No Record Anywhere

Contributed by Gordon Curley on Nov 27, 2010

NO RECORD ANYWHERE My friend Dr. Roy Gustafson has the finest illustration of justification I have ever heard. It seems that there was a man in England who put his Rolls-Royce on a boat and went across to the continent to go on a holiday. While he was driving around Europe, something happened to ...read more

Tags: Justification

Denomination: Brethren

Religion A Vs. Religion B

Contributed by Rodelio Mallari on Dec 31, 2010

RELIGION A VS. RELIGION B The 19th-century Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard identified two kinds of religion--Religion A and Religion B. The first is "faith" in name only (2 Tim. 3:5). It's the practice of attending church without genuine faith in the living Lord. Religion B, on the ...read more

Tags: Religion

Denomination: *other

Fortified Within

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 23, 2011

FORTIFIED WITHIN There are two ways of handling pressure. One is illustrated by a bathysphere, the miniature submarine used to explore the ocean in places so deep that the water pressure would crush a conventional submarine like an aluminum can. Bathyspheres compensate with plate steel several ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 1:9-14

Tags: Stress

The Impact Of A Mother's Prayer

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 6, 2011

THE IMPACT OF A MOTHER’S PRAYER Picture an old woman with a halo of silvered hair--the hot tears flowing down her furrowed cheeks--her worn hands busy over a washboard in a room of poverty--praying--for her son John--John who ran away from home in his teens to become a sailor--John of whom it was ...read more

Scripture: James 5:16-20

Tags: Die, Mother's Day

Message To Baylor Students

Contributed by Rodelio Mallari on Jan 10, 2012

MESSAGE TO BAYLOR STUDENTS Dr. Samuel Palmer Brooks was president of Baylor University in Texas from 1902 until his death in 1931. On his deathbed he wrote a message to the senior class of 1931 which has become immortal to the students of Baylor. "I stand on the border of mortal life but I face ...read more

Tags: Hardship Of Life

Denomination: *other

What's The Demand?

Contributed by Scott Jensen on Feb 5, 2012

WHAT'S THE DEMAND? The magazine, Christianity Today, reported in its April 4, 1986 issue of a tool company that manufactured drill bits. Faced with financial losses, company executives gathered to discuss the problem: a declining demand for drill bits. The CEO challenged his men: "How can we ...read more

Scripture: Mark 1:29-39

Tags: Truth

Denomination: Lutheran

Don't Just Focus On The "Pops And Sizzles"

Contributed by Gordon Curley on Mar 17, 2012

DON'T JUST FOCUS ON THE "POPS AND SIZZLES" There once was a man who owned a record company. Besides running the record company, he spent many hours in production listening to the "master disc," from which was the record and all subsequent records were pressed. Over the years his ears became adept ...read more

Tags: Faults

Denomination: Brethren

Stabilizing The Leaning Tower Of ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Aug 5, 2012

STABILIZING THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA In the early nineties, the leaning Tower of Pisa began to lean too far. Seeing that the 180-foot-high tower would soon become dangerous, engineers designed a system to salvage the twelfth-century landmark by holding the lean constant. First the engineers ...read more

Scripture: Romans 13:1-7

Tags: Government